You can preview the screensaver at any time and can easily change the keywords or websites to create another screensaver. When satisfied with the results, you can set the screensaver as your default Windows screensaver. If you want to share created screensaver with others for free, you can build its installation package by using a "Create" option.

Unlike other screensaver makers which require users to use their own images, Live Screensaver Creator offers a search engine approach. Instead of images, users of Live Screensaver Creator enter keywords to describe images or website addresses they want to appear in the screensaver. Live Screensaver Creator then finds the corresponding images and websites on the Internet and displays them as the screensaver.

For home users: This product is great for displaying images of your favorite celebrities, movies, landscapes, or whatever else you can imagine. For business users: It allows companies to build screensavers based on their websites.

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Features

Being part of the Windows Live Essentials suite, Windows Live Movie Maker has to be installed through the Essentials package installer. Also, bear in mind that this version only works in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Usability

Windows Live Movie Maker is dead easy to use. All you have to do is import the photos and videos you want to use, select the background music and add some titles and end credits if you want. The program displays extra buttons on the title bar that gives you access to configuration settings for video, music and text respectively. As regards effects, you also have plenty to choose from: transition effects, animations, zoom and pan, and also visual effects that will spice up your images.

Quality

When your video is finished, you can save it in different formats and sizes, depending on where you plan to use it on: computer, high-definition TV screen, mobile device, instant messaging client, etc. Windows Live Movie Maker also includes the option to upload it directly to YouTube, Facebook, SkyDrive and Flickr. The only drawback is that Windows Live Movie Maker saves videos to one single format: WMV.

Conclusion

With Windows Live Movie Maker you'll be able to create nice compositions with your favorite photos and videos, and share them with anyone.

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The new Windows Live Messenger 2012 comes as part of the Windows Live Essentials pack. It's an incremental development over Windows Live Messenger 2011, looking almost identical, while introducing a couple of changes.

When you install Windows Live Messenger, you have the option to install the rest of the Essentials pack, including Mail, Writer, Sync, Companion, Family Safety, Photo Gallery and Movie Maker.

You can choose to connect Windows Live Messenger 2012 to social networks Facebook and LinkedIn, making the app your social hub in Windows, if you want. Facebook is still much easier to use in your browser though, and integration into Windows Live Messenger 2012 is only really useful if your Messenger contacts are still really active and important to you.

The interface is almost unchanged; so if you were unhappy with the changes we saw in 2011, there is nothing here to make you happier! When you open a chat, there is a new Video call icon, and when you receive a video call, there is a new floating window, much like in Skype. A neat feature of this is the option to answer without showing your video feed - we're not always ready for a video call, after all!

Windows Live Messenger 2012 is no revolution, slightly improving on its predecessor. It's still a little bloated, and considering Hotmail's recent transformation to Outlook.com, which features a great messenger service right from your browser, it could be curtains for this venerable application.

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Windows usually comes with a dearth of apps out of the box but Windows Essentials 2012 solves this problem. It's a big download but that's because it comes with Live Messenger, Photo Gallery, SkyDrive, Live Mail, Live Writer, and Movie Maker. Let's take a deeper look at each program.

Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger hasn't seen much changed. There's tabbed browsing, Facebook/Linkedin integration, and the ability to log chats. The interface is almost exactly the same as Windows Live Messenger 2011. We would have liked to have seen some more changes to make Windows Live Messenger 2012 relevant in this crowded space. See our full review of Windows Live Messenger 2012 here.

Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery and Movie Maker are the highlights of Windows Essentials 2012 as they received the biggest overhaul. Both programs are now designed for Windows 8 in mind and feature the Microsoft ribbon interface.

You can now tag people in photos in bulk. There's still great social network integration for quick, seamless sharing. There is also a new 'auto collage' feature which blends photos you choose into one fluid picture.

SkyDrive

SkyDrive is perhaps the least exciting but necessary app included in Windows Essentials 2012. Similar to Dropbox's approach, SkyDrive creates a folder that syncs to the cloud and between machines. Make a change to a document on one machine and every other machine you have linked to your SkyDrive will update that document to the latest version. Integration is seamless and you'll soon forget about it, which is good.

Windows Live Mail

While competitors Apple has their default Mail application, Windows doesn't come with a mail client out of the box. Windows Essentials 2012 solves this by bundling Windows Live Mail. It is a solid mail client that offers a good way to manage your mail on the desktop.

There's an offline mode but Live Mail offers little benefit to those who want to manage their mail exclusively in a browser. The Outlook.com redesign helps to make the web site feel like an app so Live mail might not benefit users who prefer the web interface.

Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer is the oddball of Windows Essentials 2012. It is basically a writing app that integrates with your Blogger, Wordpress, SharePoint, and other blogging services. You can write, attach photos, and edit the theme of your blog from the application but its features are limited enough that users may as well use the website to make changes. It's a basic WYSIWYG editor that lacks features that would be useful for intermediate and expert bloggers.

Windows Movie Maker

Last but not least, we have Windows Movie Maker, which is the stand out application of Windows Essentials 2012. This basic video editing tool remains great while offering a few new features.

Movie Maker now takes advantage of hardware acceleration, which will speed up video exporting and encoding. There is also a new video stabilization feature, which will be a boon to those with cameras that don't offer this feature. Videos now output to h.264 by default.

The interface of Movie Maker has stayed the same for the most part but integrating audio is easier as you can now look up music from services like AudioMicro, Free Music Archive, and Vimeo Music Store. The video timeline also features a wav form so you can easily see where audio is placed within the video.

Final Words

Windows Essentials 2012 is a great suite of applications that will satisfy most Windows users. While some of its included apps struggle for relevance, many included apps are actually very useful. Best of all, its free and you can select which programs you want to install so you aren't forced to install the entire Windows Essentials 2012 suite.

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Using AV Voice Changer Software you can change your voice in real time to make it sound like an old woman, a teenage boy, a girl, and much more. The app also allows you to record sources online and through your computer and adjust the voices yourself.

Chat with a new voice

AV Voice Changer Software Gold is compatible with many VOIP and instant messaging services such as Skype, Teamspeak, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. It can also be used when playing online games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.

Voices can be tweaked using the various knobs and settings in AV Voice Changer Software. Be warned that the user interface is very cluttered and confusing, so it will take you a while to find your way around it.

Parody voices

This Diamond Edition has a faster voice morphing algorithm, and numerous options. It also includes packages of parody voices that help users talk in the voices of some Hollywood stars and other famous people. The Parody Maker, which is supposed to morph your voice into that of a celebrity doesn't give you very good results, although they are quite amusing.

AV Voice Changer Software is fun although it's not really useful for anything that playing practical jokes or morphing someones voice to protect their identity.

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The program has integrated filters which lets the user treat video streams just like regular footage. All the different effects for regular footage can also be applied in the program and makes it possible for the user optimize the stream for the keying tools used.

Lensfeed for After Effects is also useful for optimizing shots for different compositions. It can be made especially for adjusting green or blue screen scenes to your existing footages.

The program also lets you match perspective and lighting in order to achieve more realistic and believable setups. Lensfeed for After Effects also supports different platforms like Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows WP, Windows, 98 and Windows ME, and is a great program for video editors, movie makers and other professionals for editing different video streams.

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The most popular app in Windows Live Essentials is undoubtedly Windows Live Messenger, but that doesn’t mean the others are not as good. Besides Messenger, Windows Live Essentials includes an email client (Windows Live Mail), a photo viewer and organizer (Windows Live Photo Gallery), a video editor (Windows Live Movie Maker), a file and folder syncing tool (Windows Live Sync), a desktop blogging client (Windows Live Writer) and a parental control utility (Windows Live Family Safety).

The good thing about Windows Live Essentials is that you can use which applications you want to install and which no. All you have to do is run the installer and select those you plan to use - leaving the uninteresting ones unmarked.

All the apps in Windows Live Essentials feel very robust and stable. They’re generally easy to use and feature an intuitive, attractive interface design. The only drawback, if any, is that this suite can no longer be used on Windows XP; it only supports Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Windows Live Essentials is a complete suite with general tools to organize photos, create custom videos, write on your blog and chat with your family and friends, among other utilities.

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Windows Live Messenger 2011 is finally here. Far from being just a chat program, the all-new Microsoft instant messaging client is now a complete communications center with support for social networks.

As with previous versions, Windows Live Messenger 2011 is part of the Windows Live Essentials suite, which also includes other apps such as Mail, Writer, Sync, Companion, Family Safety, Photo Gallery and Movie Maker, as well as the Bing Bar. Luckily the installation process lets you choose exactly which apps you want on your system.

Windows Live Messenger features a revamped interface. Right after launching it, and thanks to new integration with other services such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, the so-called Social Highlights lets you check your friends’ latest news and status messages at a glance. If you still prefer the old style, worry not: Windows Live Messenger lets you switch to the traditional contact list by using the Contacts mode. Bear in mind though that if you use a different email account for your social networks, you’ll have to connect the services on the Windows Live website.

Besides the social element, everything else is pretty much the same on Windows Live Messenger 2011, only with a slightly fresher appearance. You can still do video and voice calls, play online games with your friends, share files, and of course customize the program’s appearance with skins and color themes. Emoticons have been revamped, and – finally! – you can have multiple conversations tabbed in one single window.

The main drawback to the all-new Windows Live Messenger 2011 is that it only works on Windows Vista and Windows 7. So if you still use Windows XP you’ll have to stick to the old version – or upgrade your system!

Windows Live Messenger 2011 is the long-awaited new version of Microsoft’s IM client, now integrated with social networks and other services.

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Windows Movie Maker is a useful tool that is a video editor and creator all in one.

If you think that creating a video with your photos is too complicated, think again and take a look at Windows Movie Maker.

Introduction

This easy-to-use movie maker software lets you create completely customizable multimedia presentations that include not only your best shots and favorite video clips, but also some nice video and transition effects that will add a professional touch.

How to use

Windows Movie Maker is really simple to use: import all the media you'd like to use (images, video files and even video captured in real time) and drag it onto the timeline. Add as many effects as you like, and check how everything looks in the preview window. There's even a special tool in Windows Movie Maker that lets you add titles and credits to your movie.

Additional features

Once your work is finished, Windows Movie Maker lets you export the video to several different formats, depending on where you want to use it: publishing it on a website, recording it to a CD or simply saving it to your hard drive are some of the options included.

That said, bear in mind that Windows Movie Maker is intended for people with little or no movie making experience, which means that more advanced users may find it a bit too limiting.

With Windows Movie Maker you can easily create video presentations with your favorite photos, video clips and some nice transition effects.

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Slideshow Magic is aimed at both home users and business professionals who want to impress friends or colleagues with their photo slideshow creations. Best of all, it doesn't require the viewer to have the program installed as all slideshows can be saved in any QuickTime compatible format.

The easy to use interface is somewhat like that of a video editor allowing you to add music or audio tracks either for the whole slideshow or just specific segments. You can add some impressive transitions and titles much in the same way as you do with Windows Movie Maker for example. The program also features a useful guide to help you get your photos online or burnt to DVD. However, unfortunately the program doesn't provide either it's own webspace or burner for uploading and saving photos. For uploading, you'll need an FTP client and web host and for burning, a third party burner such as Nero.

In addition, although it's a cross platform application, sharing with other platforms requires some form of network solution between clients (although this needn't be something complicated - a program like MSN Live Messenger is enough

Slideshow Magic is a relatively cheap but powerful way to get your photos either online or burnt to DVD.

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Microsoft Photo Story lets you drag photos onto a window, arrange them as needed, then provide custom narration, transitions, zooms, pans, audio soundtracks and/or custom auto-generated music, then export the result as a WMV file.

Applying such features can prove tricky in some programs, but not in Microsoft Photo Story. The fact is, you don’t need to tweak a whole bunch of settings because the program does it for you, automatically generating transitions and zoom/pans without you having to set it up yourself. What's more, the ones generated by default look great.

While you can simply sit back and let Microsoft Photo Story do everything for you, there's still plenty you can play around with if you’re feeling adventurous. For instance, you can build your own custom soundtracks for your slideshow. You can pick from a bumper range of music genres, tempos, instruments and effects, giving you the chance to match the audio precisely to the mood of your show.

Output from Microsoft Photo Story is in Microsoft's WMV file format, which is more compressed than MPEGs or other movie type files. You can choose from various resolutions in order to optimize your slideshow. Unfortunately, however, the output movies from the software are not as sharp as they’d be in VCD or DVD format.

It's a shame that Microsoft Photo Story does'’t support burning DVDs and VCDs with the created slideshow, and you’ll need your own DVD authoring app to do this. There are applications, such as ProShow, that contain burning options and support for higher resolution output, but there's not much that can match Photo Story in terms of its ease of use and automated features.

So, if you want a quick way to create stand-out photo presentations, Microsoft Photo Story is well worth downloading.

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